My vet is encouraging me to switch to raw. My puppy is fighting giardia and I want to do everything I can to boost his immune system. I have started him on THK since I got him at 8 weeks old which my Vet likes but she said nothing beats raw.

The Vet gave me a list of brands and places to buy from. The easiest places are going to be online for me. http://www.barfworld.com and http://www.darwinspet.com are the 2 preferred by the Vet office. The barfwrold seems horribly expensive unless I am missing something here. They suggest 6 patties a day for a dog 55lbs. This would be $123 every week which is just NUTS. Again I could have that wrong but 3lbs of raw a day seems excessive to me.

The darwinspet seems much more reasonable and would run me around $185 a month which is fine since I pay about that for THK now anyway.

Any suggestions for me on picking between these 2 or perhaps another place even better I dont know about?

Thanks

First of all, I want your vet! That's pretty rare to have a vet telling you to feed raw.

Have you looked into just doing your own raw diet instead of buying it? There are good ebooks for free on this website on how to do it. They have sample diets and everything. It would be much cheaper that way.

Here's a link
http://leerburg.com/feedingarawdiet.htm

You can assemble your own diet for much cheaper than pre-made. Where are you located? Maybe some of us can help you find sources.

You can even use THK plus RMBs as a bridge to raw.

That's an especially good option, in fact, for a first-time raw feeder with a growing puppy.

Well the Vet gave me a book with recipes in it and all. The issue is I researched this and its a hobby in itself, lol. A meat grinder capable of grinding bones is about $800 plus all the time sourcing ingredients from health food stores and making sure they are proportioned correctly.

Now if there is a huge benefit to making it myself that is one thing to consider but maybe I need to hear its easier then what I have researched or I would rather pay the money and spare my time. The training takes so much time I dont see myself spending even more time making dog food all the time.

Educate me of a better way but so far $185 and I get 44lbs mailed to me monthly seems like an easy out, lol.


Side note:

I found a holistic vet and I really like her. So far though nothing has been holistic about the vaccines he had and meds needed for giardia. She counseled me for an hour about her thoughts and beliefs and I trust her on all this. But after his first round of shots there wont be any more ever again aside from rabies so I think she is on the right path.

So your vet must not be talking about feeding whole bones - like chicken backs? If you are going to grind everything up that's definitely a whole lot of work and expense. Read the Leerburg article and compare how they do it to what you have read.

Check into products made by Oma's Pride & Blue Ridge Beef. Both have ground in bone options. You might also be able to find local raw dog food companies that offer the same. I buy a ground mix from a chicken farmer, for example.

I am a long-time raw feeder, like many on this board. (You're in the right place for support on feeding raw.)

But I would probably not completely switch a dog who is battling giardiasis.

(1) The poop consistency is a major gauge when newly feeding raw.
(2) His gut is stressed enough with the giardiasis without adding a major diet change.



This board is loaded with very experienced raw feeders (who feed balanced raw diets). As others are saying, you don't need to grind.

But raw is a pretty big leap for a first-time owner with a growing puppy, when THK plus RMBs (like chicken backs) is such a safe and balanced option.

And I would like to see formed log poops on his present diet before making such a big switch and then not knowing whether the giardia or the new diet is triggering any diarrhea.

My sensitive gut dog did very well on a combination of THK and Orijen kibble when she was having major digestive issues. The THK (Embark) seemed to soothe her digestive system and Orijen provided a nutrient/calorie dense quality add in. With any dog with major digestive upset recently, I'd want to have about 3-4 weeks of normal poop, etc before switching to raw just to make sure I wouldn't trigger a relapse. Especially with a growing pup.

 Quote: Lori Hall

So your vet must not be talking about feeding whole bones - like chicken backs? If you are going to grind everything up that's definitely a whole lot of work and expense. Read the Leerburg article and compare how they do it to what you have read.

No not necessarily. I just thought that grinding the bones was the only way to do it.

Maybe I am not getting the idea of how to do this which obviously seems a lot easier how you guys are doing it.

I havent made the switch and am finishing up my THK food first. I did order a freezer for the garage to get ready and am just trying to research a bit first.

Perhaps I just need to follow the book I got from the Vet and I also bought one from Leerburg but I do recall them suggesting a grinder. So a 5 month dog can chew up these bones with out any issues? I figured ground up bone was the safe way to go and had all the same benefits but none of the risks. That is if there is even any risk? I guess I just need some more input how the bone part works out. I can get the details for portions and supplements from my book so maybe you guys can just help me understand the meat and bone portion of the diet.

This poor puppy has not really had any normal stool since I got him. My theory is that he came to me with giardia and also had a small amount of work eggs in his stool. We treated him and cleared all the giardia. Even the specialized enzyme test cleared him of having any left over. Well a month later and I still see loose stool so I test him again and its back. This means its at my house somewhere. I think he passed it to our senior pug and now it got passed back. Both dogs are just finishing a 8 day course of antibiotics and the Vet wants to treat both again after 3 weeks then re test them. She is doing a "pulse" treatment approach.

As to not mess up his routine I will stick with THK until this blows over but I would like to research it now and be ready.

My other option is I know a good butcher in my area. I could go there and purchase ground up mean with bone in it. I am sure that would likely be something they can do for me. After that it would just be a matter of mixing up the glop portion. Would this be easy to do?